Is Piracy To Blame Or Is The Music Industry Just Moribund?
Who’s to blame for the Record Industry’s drop in revenue? They have noone to blame but themselves, according to a recent LA Times article by Patrick Goldstein. On the one hand, they are not allowing new groups enough airtime in commercial radio to allow new musical bands to grow along with new musical styles. By promoting manufactured sound-alike groups so much, new music is stifled. Worse, they are now finding themselves in competition with other entertainment systems for the consumer’s dollar. DVDs are the hot ticket in the current retail entertainment market, generating $11 Billion last year. For $19.95 you get a complete two hour movie, plus all kinds of behind the scenes extras. When you buy the soundtrack to the same film, you often get only 45 to 60 minutes of music and no extra. The puzzling thing is that usually the price of the soundtrack album is exactly the same as the DVD of the whole movie. Music fans are disgruntled and are voting with their feet. They just aren’t buying
